LPS 1175 Issue 8 One Year On

14th January 2020

The Hot Topic – One year on; how LPS 1175 Issue 8 has changed the Physical Security Landscape

Has it really been another orbit of the sun since the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) launched the new LPS 1175 Issue 8 standard? For those of you not in the know, security had a major upgrade in 2019. Or, rather how physical security was assessed did.

This time last year (January 2019), LPCB; part of BRE Global, released their new security standard for physical security products. It had been 9 years since the launch of Issue 7. Back in 2010 we had faced the worst airspace restriction since the Second World War as Eyjafjallajökull spew volcanic ash across the Northern Hemisphere. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a Conservative-led coalition after the threat of a hung parliament and 33 Chilean miners were rescued after being trapped underground for months.

LPS 1175 Issue 8 One Year On

However, it isn’t just the political environment that has changed drastically since then but also the security one. LPCB identified that a new standard was required that met the ever-changing attack methods and tool sets of the modern criminal. The standard had to reflect current threats and look at the whole attack profile rather than just a specific point.

But how has this new standard changed the Physical Security Landscape since its launch? The Hot Topic looks at LPS 1175 Issue 8; One Year on.

Well let’s start at the beginning. As a manufacturer of Security Rated and Certified Fencing and Gate systems the arrival of any new standard always brings a sense of dread. How will it affect our current systems? What will we have to do to move with the requirements? Is it even attainable?

LPS 1175 Issue 8 One Year On

Thankfully that sense of dread is soon replaced with a feeling of excitement. One of the biggest changes over the last year across the security manufacturing industry has been how we can push ourselves to develop new products that offer real world delay against attack. Think of it as a challenge from a friend. They want to see the best you can do.

Prior to Issue 8, the industry had almost settled into a cycle of rinse and repeat. Innovation had been replaced with, as the Norwegians say Same, Same but Different products on the market place. Whilst it is an expensive process in the development of security rated products; operating from a known standard and seeing existing systems gives you a crib sheet in how to design to a certain degree.

This was ripped up and thrown away with the new launch. Suddenly innovation became key again. Having followed this process ourselves and seen others do the same we understood that any new Issue 8 certified product needed to raise the bar in deterring and delaying attack. You had to look at the whole landscape and see how your products fitted into the grand scheme of defending.

The end result has seen some amazingly innovative products reach the new market place. It has allowed specifiers and security consultants a new ability to observe the attack matrix and take in to account what is actually required rather than a one solution for everything approach. Who needs a product that may offer a 20min delay against a certain tool when you only need to delay for 5 minutes so you can respond?

The ability to develop new products that offer a real-world delay instead of a 10-year-old threat is a game changer for the Physical Security Landscape. Whilst 2019 was the year of launch, 2020 will be the year of innovation for LPS 1175.